Worthwhile CD-R Media?

isdnip asks: "I've noticed that when I burn a CD-R, it's basically a random chance whether or not it will play on any given CD player or CD-ROM drive. Blank CD-Rs are dirt cheap nowadays, but the costlier gold ones are not available at retail, if at all. So which ones now on the market are most likely to work? They seem more interested in bragging about maximum speed, not quality. Does a high speed rating help or hurt readability (I usually only burn at 2x or 4x)?"

"Just for example, I've had pretty good luck with Maxell 'CD-R pro' blanks, mediocre luck with 'IBM' licensed-brand media, and even worse results from Memorex, which had the dubious distinction of looking most like real gold, though really just based on an ordinary dye layer. I don't want to buy a 50-pack of junk. I haven't seen any magazine reviews, either. I'm sure Slashdot readers have had a wealth of experience which we could all stand to share."

Comments

Burning Speed

[pheph]

There must be a difference in terms of reliability at differing speeds. When I would backup Playstation games, burning at anything over 1x would create unreliable/unplayable games, but you could take those unplayable games and copy them onto another CD at 1x and they would play just fine...

Re:Burning Speed

[Stoke]

this would only happen on older burners.. the new burners can burn psx at 16x and they work great.

Re:Burning Speed

[pheph]

Yes, I was using a very old burner (external SCSI 2x4)... Still seems interesting that some CD readers could read it and others couldn't

Bulk CDRs

[i_am_nitrogen]

This probably goes without saying, but don't use those bulk CDs you can get for $10 for 100 discs. Usually, they have no protective layer over the aluminum (allowing you to scratch or rub off the reflective coating, and also making it easier for bacteria to damage the disc -- I've had both happen to semi-critical backups made on cheap CDs. I've learned my lesson.), and the bottom 10-15 discs are often useless because the metal flakes off one disc and permanently deposits onto the disc above it. Personally I've had the best success with my Samsung 8x drive using Circuit City labelled discs. Different drive brands probably work best with different media, but I'd say that it's probably safe to buy the 50 packs from major stores for most CD players. Heck, even my cheap bulk CDs are readable in every CD player I've tried them in.

... I may be wrong, but wasn't the move from gold to silver/aluminum supposed to be a step up in quality, since gold is less reflective?

FYI, I think my bulk CDs report that they are made by CMC/CMG magnetics.